Lawry Goes to Guatemala: Quetzaltenango

Took the bus from Guatemala City to Quetzaltenango - about 4.5 hours - with no problems. Was collected from the bus station as arranged and delivered to my host family (Blanca and Frederico)where I will spend the next few weeks. They are about 70 years old and very sweet. We talked for about an hour and they don't know any english. Slept ok and had a good brekky. for those of you wo didn't know, I am going to do some structured schooling in Spanish in order to help me communicate while I am here. Right now, I have finished my first 5 hour class and not an English word to be found in the whole place - nor in the town for that matter. The class was very challenging because not only was it theory but it was not in my native tongue. My teacher, Jorge, is cool, when I get to know him a bit better I will ask for a photo so you can see him. I guess he is in his mid twenties and really knows his grammar, and that suits me fine. I did a test to see where I fitted in and even though I can converse more or less ok there are obvious holes in the grammar so we will work on that. I don't know how people can come to a school like this with no Spanish.
The afternoon is now free and I am going to explore a bit. Apparently today is a celebration of a local hero (Tecún Amon) who defeated the Spanish forces at the initial invasion - even though they lost in the long run. I have been to the shop with Jorge and bought a towel, some toilet paper and soap, what more could you want? Oh yeah, chocolate! The temperature last night was not too bad and I never felt cold, and today has been just gorgeous. There is not a cloud in the sky and about 25 degrees. I will definitely need sunscreen as you can feel the sun burning you as you walk around. I intend to spend the first week getting to know the district and sus out other volunteer options. Jorge says he will find out where the Alterna people are. They're the ones who are making the small hydro electric systems for the villages that I emailed. He also told me about some excellent volcano hikes so I will check them out too.
Xela is very much like a lot of the poorer towns in Latin America. Most of the houses and shops are run down and a bit dirty. Don't take this the wrong way, but I am glad about that as it means that I won't be doing work for a wealthy district. I think they can really use what I have to offer and that was the whole point of doing it